Well, obviously I have changed my template again after 3.5
years and I have learned more life
lessons from the process!Woo-hoo!

I was seriously intimidated by the task of this change, but
that was mostly because I remembered all the work I had to put in to make the
last one.(I had documented the whole process, so I
remembered really well.)Surprisingly enough, the change turned
out to be much easier than I expected because blog template programming quality
has progressed to the point that some changes didn’t require me to touch code.Glory be!

In the same way, sometimes we can get scared away from doing
something good or making a change in our lives because we think it is going to
be really hard based on memories we’ve had in the past of how difficult it was
to change.But it may not be as
hard as we think; we may have progressed in other areas of our lives such that
we already have many pieces in place that will actually make the process easier
and faster than we think!

What gave me courage to try?I had a goal that I wanted to achieve—adding an extra
column to my blog—and I had this impression that I needed to do learn something
new that would expand my stewardship of my blog.There wasn’t any outside pressure forcing me; I just felt it
was time to go forward, rather than staying stagnant where I had been so
comfortable for so long. As it turned out, my blog template at that time would not allow that addition, so I had to find a new template.

In the same way, sometimes our need for personal growth can
give us courage to make new changes in our lives.Our efforts to please the Lord through our personal
improvement can motivate us.We
don’t necessarily have to be forced to change by outside circumstances.We can make a choice, but the pay-off
has to be sufficiently satisfying that we will want to keep striving even when
we’ve hit obstacles.

I did not know that template programming had improved so
much.I didn’t know that once I
changed my template, it would allow me to manipulate a few sliders and click a
few buttons to add another column without having to touch code.I had to get the preliminary
changes done first.

In the same way, we won’t know until we’ve made some
preliminary efforts to change our lives just how the way will be opened.We just have to start with courage, and
move forward with determination and diligence and faith.In making those first steps, the Lord opens new ways
for us.

One of the problems I had when I was first trying to cut and
paste template code in was that I kept getting an error saying the code was not
well-formed.It took me a while to
realize that it had no HTML tags in it!My text-edit program totally stripped out HTML tags and I hadn’t
realized it!

In the same way, when we are trying to change our lives, we
may be missing important doctrine and teachings that will help us because the
traditions of men have stripped those teachings from public discourse.We have to go straight to the
divine source and get the full message undiluted.

My old template had a really rigid layout. Once I changed my template, however, I discovered that the new layout was much more flexible than my old one and I could add columns or move them around in a way that I could only have dreamed about before.

In the same way, positive changes in our lives give us more freedom than we ever dreamed we could have, opening ways for us to do things that we couldn't before, giving us more flexibility to handle challenges.

Christ is the template that we must model our lives on.Zion is the template that we want to
model society on.It requires
courage and perseverance to work towards those ideals, especially when we feel
comfortable where we are.

Along with trying to improve my blog stewardship, I am also
trying to increase my cooking skills so that I can better serve my family.

This is the chapter in which
Nephi and his brothers marry Ishmael’s daughters, Lehi finds the Liahona
outside his tent, the Liahona guides them on their journey, Nephi breaks his
bow and his brothers murmur, Ishmael dies and his daughters murmur, and Laman
and Lemuel are chastened by the Lord’s own voice.I have a number of observations to make in this chapter.

Food insecurity and a can-do attitude

One of the main concerns
that causes the murmuring in Lehi’s family is lack of food, and while I used to
condemn those that murmured about it, I have come to the conclusion that I
probably would have done the same, especially when I consider the difficulty
that have sometimes had with fasting.Fasting teaches me that it takes a lot of extra self-control to be
cooperative while hungry.But I
usually know where my next meal is coming from when I’m fasting.Lehi’s people were dealing with pretty
consistent food insecurity, and I imagine that would wear on anyone.Because of this, I think Nephi’s
example is truly stellar.Even
though he must have been just as hungry as everyone else, he tried to be part
of the solution, rather than part of the problem.

Nephi’s can-do attitude and
focus on solutions reminds me of a little lesson I learned in the last house
that we rented.That house had
some pretty consistent leaks through the front window when it rained, and at
the beginning of our time staying in that house, I regret to say that when I
called the landlord to tell him about them, I complained and blamed him.Naturally, this did not go over
very well.Eventually I learned to
report the problem with out complaining or blaming and to focus on finding
solutions.Once I learned that,
repairs happened more quickly!(Surprise, surprise!)

Hypocritical criticism

I think it is odd that Laman
and Lemuel got so torked at Nephi for breaking his bow when their bows had lost
their springs. Their bows were
just as useless, so why are they getting down on Nephi? It seems like hypocritical
criticism.It shows us something
we need to be careful we don’t do—get angry at others for something we have
done too.(In my life, one of the
things I get kinda picky about is keeping the house picked up.I have to be careful to put away my stuff at the same time that I get
after my husband for leaving things out.)

Carrying Capacity and seeking higher nourishment

Something else I noticed in
this chapter is where Nephi finally
finds food after the crisis of the broken bow:

30 And it came
to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the
top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given upon the
ball.

31 And it came
to pass that I did slay wild beasts, insomuch that I did obtain food for our
families. (1 Nephi 16:30-31, emphasis added)

The Liahona directed Nephi
to the top of the mountains, a completely different place than where they
usually got food, which was “slaying food by the way” (v15).It makes me think that maybe staying in
one place may have caused them to exceed the carrying capacity of the land and
they had killed all the animals in the valley where they were traveling.

I also think there’s a
little lesson here for us about getting spiritual nourishment.Sometimes the spiritual food we get in
the normal course of our day is not going to be enough for the challenges we
face.So we have to follow the
Lord’s directions and go to the top of the mountains—the temple—to get the
strength we need.We will have to
seek it out, rather than just letting it come to us.Yes, it is nice when it comes, but the Lord does not intend
for us to always go through life as passive consumers of spiritual things,
taking only what insight is conveniently found.Rather, He wants us to learn to use our agency and search
for what we need.

Nearly there…

Another observation I have
is about the course they took in the wilderness.In the beginning when they have the Liahona, Nephi notes
that:

…we did go
forth again in the wilderness, following
the same direction, keeping in the most fertile parts of the wilderness,
which were in the borders near the Red Sea….And we did follow the directions of
the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness. (1 Nephi
16:14, 16)

After all the trouble with
the hunger and broken bow is cleared up, they start moving again and we
something different—“we did again take our journey, traveling nearly the same course as in the
beginning” (v33)It wasn’t exactly the same course, but it was
nearly the same course.I really wonder
about that.Suppose Nephi was nearly following the Liahona, but not
completely?Actually, he probably was following the Liahona carefully and
still making it through the most fertile parts of the wilderness, but imagine
what would have happened if they began deviating even a little bit from the
course the Lord marked out for them?As it was, they suffered a lot of hunger, thirst, and fatigue.If they had almost followed, but not completely, they probably would have found
themselves in much worse predicaments than they had.

This suggests a lesson to
us.How much blessing can we
expect if we nearly keep the
commandments, but not completely?I suppose we can expect nearly
to be blessed, but not quite.But
who wants a near-blessing when they can have a full blessing?Or what if we nearly follow the prophets, but not completely?Or what if we nearly fast (but not totally), or almost pray, or nearly
keep the Sabbath day holy, but not completely, or almost have FHE, or get
really close to having family prayer and scripture study, but not
exactly?We’d be ALMOST blessed…
but not quite.And just as Lehi’s
family would have been in a bad way if they had wandered slightly off course,
we will also be in a bad way, possibly suffering spiritual famine in our lives,
if we wander slightly off course from the commandments.

Faith, diligence, and heed

http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2011/01/mormon-props.html

Some of the best verses in
this chapter are Nephi’s realization about how the Liahona works.

And
it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that
they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give
unto them. (1 Nephi 16:28)

Faith, diligence, and heed
are important qualities to cultivate.‘Faith’ happens when you believe that the source is good and will give
good counsel that will really help.‘Heed’ happens when you try it out.‘Diligence’ is about following the counsel consistently over
time.

Sometimes we may be really
good at one or two of these qualities, but not all of them.We may be good at faith and heeding,
but not so great at diligence.Or
we may be good at faith, but never quite make it to heeding and diligence.In many aspects of the gospel, I’m pretty
good at all three, but in some areas I haven’t quite got the diligence down
yet.To have consistent blessings,
we have to have all three—faith, heed, and diligence—at work.

Laman and Lemuel’s suspicion

I suppose once Nephi figured
out the Liahona was fueled by faith, diligence, and heed he worked hard to
follow those pointers and put all his energy into that.It is possible that he took possession
of the Liahona and became the navigator for the journey.If so, considering Laman and Lemuel’s
tendency to suspicion, it would certainly make Nephi’s older brothers nervous
to see Nephi with it all the time.I think they thought he was manipulating the Liahona somehow, making it
do what it wasn’t supposed to do, just to have control over where the whole
group went.Eventually their
suspicions come out—

….he
tells us these things, and he worketh many things by his cunning arts, that he
may deceive our eyes, thinking, perhaps, that he may lead us away into some
strange wilderness; and after he has led us away, he has thought to make
himself a king and a ruler over us, that he may do with us according to his
will and pleasure. (1 Nephi 16:38)

There are modern Laman and
Lemuels today who suspect that prophets are just making it up about what is
important to do.They think the
prophets just want the pleasure of being in charge and telling people what to
do and where to go.We need faith
today in what the prophets warn us about, just as Lehi’s family had to have
faith that the Liahona was really giving guidance from God and was not being
meddled with by man.

Stopping places

A final observation I have
is that it seems like Lehi’s party usually gets into trouble when they stop for
a while to rest.In 1 Nephi 16, it
happens twice.I can’t really see
that the Liahona would tell them to stop; I think it would keep pointing the
way, but that they decided to stop
when they didn’t have faith to continue, and that’s when the Liahona wouldn’t
work anymore.

We kind of do the same thing
to ourselves, I think, when we decide to stop following the guidance we get; when
we do that, we don’t progress and we are more likely to get into a complaining
frame of mind, and (strangely) that’s when the guidance doesn’t seem to do any
good.But it isn’t because there
was anything wrong with that guidance; it is because we have ceased to move our
feet.

Here’s a snippet from
the Book of Revelation that I was thinking about recently:

6 And the
seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7 The
first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and
they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and
all green grass was burnt up.

8 And the
second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was
cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

9 And the
third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the
third part of the ships were destroyed. (Revelation 8:6-9)

These verses and those that follow are pretty scary when we
consider the plagues that follow after the trumpets sound, but it hit me
suddenly that the principle we are to notice and understand from it is that the
plagues don’t happen until after the trumpet sounds.The angels with their trumpets are symbolic of warnings from
God.The angel is a messenger from
God.The trumpet is a signal used
to warn in battle and other times.So we learn that none of the fearsome plagues will come without there
first coming a warning from God, and most likely through prophets. So if we heed the warningsfrom the prophets, we will
escape the plagues.I find this
incredibly reassuring.

Of course, if we aren’t very faithful about heeding the
prophetic warnings now, we won’t be very good at heeding the warnings for those
plagues, so how we respond to the prophets’ warnings now really matters.

This verse does not say that Nephi and his brothers gained
favor first and then spoke to Ishmael
and family the words of the Lord.
Rather, that word “insomuch” means “to the extent of, to the degree of.” It means that they gained favor to the
extent that they spoke the words of the Lord to Ishmael. It shows that Ishmael responded most to
the words of the Lord, rather than the wisdom of man; he was a righteous man
and he recognized by the feelings and thoughts he had when the Spirit confirmed
what Nephi and his brothers must have said about the imminent destruction of
Jerusalem, the wickedness of the people, and the necessity of leaving to
preserve a righteous remnant. It
shows us that Ishmael was definitely a worthy man to be taken on the flight out
of wicked Jerusalem. The Lord knew
what he was doing when He chose Ishmael and his family.

So, I guess the question should be asked of us, “Do we,
like Ishmael, favor those who speak the words of the Lord to us?”

After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a
vision, saying,

Fear not, Abram:

I am thy shield,

and thy exceeding great reward.

(Genesis 15:1)

I was looking at “reward” in the Topical Guide and I saw
the above verse cited.I saw it
differently than I had before.Previously, I thought “I am thy…exceeding great reward” just meant that
it was Abram’s reward and privilege to have God in his life.

Today I realized Abram already had God in his life. He was promised more--the prospect of becoming like God.The Lord meant, “I [or what I am] is
thy exceeding great reward, what you can expect to become.”

I love that the promise of becoming like God is recorded
this early in the Bible.

Today
moral deterioration has escalated. One prominent writer recently said,
“Everyone knows the culture is poisonous, and nobody expects that to change.”5
The constant portrayal of violence and immorality in music, entertainment, art,
and other media in our day-to-day culture is unprecedented. This was
dramatically described by a highly respected Baptist theologian when he stated,
“The spiritual immune system of an entire civilization has been wounded.”6It is not surprising that some in the Church believe they
can’t answer Alma’s question with a resounding yes. They do not “feel so now.”
They feel they are in a spiritual drought. Others are angry, hurt, or
disillusioned. If these descriptions apply to you,7
it is important to evaluate why you cannot “feel so now.”Many who are in a spiritual drought and lack commitment have
not necessarily been involved in major sins or transgressions, but they have
made unwise choices. Some are casual in their observance of sacred covenants.
Others spend most of their time giving first-class devotion to lesser causes.
Some allow intense cultural or political views to weaken their allegiance to
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some have
immersed themselves in Internet materials that magnify, exaggerate, and, in some
cases, invent shortcomings of early Church leaders. Then they draw incorrect
conclusions that can affect testimony. Any who have made these choices can
repent and be spiritually renewed.Immersion in the scriptures is essential for spiritual
nourishment.8
The word of God inspires commitment and acts as a healing balm for hurt
feelings, anger, or disillusionment.

I want to share a few thoughts I’ve had about
these words.

I appreciated how he highlighted that our culture is
poisonous and no one expects that to change. I personally think that there are degrees of poison in our
culture and like the Lamanite general in the Book of Mormon who was the object
of Amalickiah’s envy, we can find ourselves poisoned by degrees. The problem is that too few of us
recognize the individual elements that make up our culture’s poisonous
atmosphere and say, “There’s nothing wrong with that” or “It’s no big deal” or
“It doesn’t affect me” if our choices of movies, music, TV, video games, or
other entertainment are questioned.
It is that kind of response that indicates our spiritual immune system
has been wounded!

“It is not surprising that some in the Church believe
they can’t answer Alma’s question with a resounding yes. They do not “feel so
now.” They feel they are in a spiritual drought.”

Our spirits require nourishment every day. Eternal truth is the only thing that
can do that for us. If our media
choices are poisonous or even just void of spiritual nourishment, then it is a natural consequence for us to feel we
are in a spiritual drought.
Spiritual droughts weaken commitment and enthusiasm for the gospel.

How do you get out of culture-induced spiritual
drought? You have to realize that
no media choice you make is without significance. Every point at which you engage with culture is important
and ultimately has an effect on you—internet, TV, books, magazines, games,
phone, etc.

At every point,
you have to start asking yourself whether what is being portrayed is consistent
with the commandments of God. You
have to ask yourself whether you are being spiritual edified. And if you answer honestly that you are
not being edified and nourished and encouraged to do the right thing, you have
be willing to STOP and move on to something more nourishing, something that can
help you “feel so now” that you have a change of heart and can sing the song of
redeeming love. You also have to
go to sources where you know you will be nourished spiritually—church,
scriptures, the temple, conference reports, etc.

Media is not the only problem, though.

“Many who are in a spiritual drought and lack
commitment have not necessarily been involved in major sins or transgressions,
but they have made unwise choices. Some are casual in their observance of
sacred covenants. Others spend most of their time giving first-class devotion
to lesser causes. Some allow intense cultural or political views to weaken
their allegiance to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Some have immersed themselves in Internet materials that magnify, exaggerate,
and, in some cases, invent shortcomings of early Church leaders. Then they draw
incorrect conclusions that can affect testimony. Any who have made these
choices can repent and be spiritually renewed.”

Elder Cook lists four additional choices we make that have
the effect of decreasing our commitment and increasing spiritual drought in our
lives. I think it is important to
understand each of them and what can be done about them.

“Some are casual in their
observance of sacred covenants.”
Being casual means to act without sufficient care or thoroughness. I find that when I am casual about
keeping my covenants, it usually arose out of reluctance to do the work
required to be complete and exact.
And eventually I realize my spiritual blessings are reduced in
proportion to how much my effort is reduced. Repenting of this requires that I commit to doing my best,
to face my challenges head-on, to refrain from murmuring at what is required,
and to seek the Lord’s help in everything for which I feel inadequate.

“Others spend most of their
time giving first-class devotion to lesser causes.” Remember Elder Oaks’s talk about good, better, and
best? When we give our best energy
to the good instead of the best causes, we miss out on the nourishing blessings
and satisfaction we would otherwise gain.
With so much that we can choose, if we do the good before we get to the
best, we often won’t have any time left for the best. This is all about getting our priorities straight. Repenting requires that we put the Lord
and eternal priorities first in our lives.

“Some allow intense
cultural or political views to weaken their allegiance to the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Total immersion in a particular view causes us to have
difficulty accepting opposing balancing principles. The church tends to moderate opposing principles, seeking balance
between them. When our own views
on a subject seem more intense than those expressed by others in the church, we
may find that we resent the church, thinking it does not go far enough in the
direction we want. It is hard to
be loyal to a church when it does not seem loyal enough to us and what we hold
dear. However, the church is not
the gospel. The gospel is the
perfect plan and the church is not perfect yet, nor yet are we. Our
obsession with a cause masks our imbalance and our other imperfections from our
sight. This can lead to a crisis
in which we become offended and have to make a difficult choice between taking
ourselves out of the church and moderating our views. Repenting requires great humility and meekness, becoming
willing to learn and practice balancing principles.

“Some have immersed
themselves in Internet materials that magnify, exaggerate, and, in some cases,
invent shortcomings of early Church leaders. Then they draw incorrect
conclusions that can affect testimony.” When we
honestly need help refuting these kinds of criticisms, we can get help from
websites like FAIR (www.fairlds.org). However, deliberately immersing oneself
in critical material is not the way to build faith. It is a tempting thing to do; the rationale is usually, “I
have to know everything the critics might say so that I can know how I might be
attacked by others.” The problem
is, immersion is study, and study creates an inner climate of whatever that
material is, and studying criticism creates a personal inner climate of
criticism and affects how you see the world. Repenting and being renewed after this kind of spiritual
drought can be a very long process, but it is possible. It requires avoiding critical material
and instead studying edifying and faith-promoting material. Critical material leaves a poison of
skepticism* in the mind long afterward, so we will need careful, continuous
mental effort to confront skeptical thoughts and make conscious choices to
believe and act with faith.

When I review my own life, I see two consistent causes of
lack of commitment in my own life (although I have experienced other causes as
well). Either I get weary of
working so hard to do good, or I get distracted by something else. I am grateful for a loving Father in
Heaven who helps me discern when I am not committed enough and who provides me
with frequent chances to recommit by taking the sacrament and frequent
reminders to refocus me.

What causes you to become less committed? How do you stay on track or get back on
track?

And it came to pass that he did
teach and minister unto the children of the multitude of whom hath been spoken,
and he did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and
marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people; and he
loosed their tongues that they could utter. (3 Nphi 26:14)

What does this mean when it says that Jesus loosed the
tongues of the children? It almost
sounds like magic the way it is expressed here. But can we assume that? A child can babble on quite happily saying nothing in
particular. But here it says the
children spoke great and marvelous things.

Previous to thinking about this verse I sort of had this
idea that the children were wrought upon to say great things, and they didn’t
understand what they were saying, but now that doesn’t seem quite right. They had just been taught and
ministered to by Christ. I think
it likely that they had been thinking about what He taught them and drawing
conclusions, synthesizing what He had said and building on the foundational
principles until they had profound insights to share, greater than Jesus had
revealed so far to the people.

How is a child’s tongue loosed? I can think of several ways. It might be loosed if he/she has a speech impediment. That’s a healing process. A child’s tongue can be loosed if
he/she is given permission to speak or invited to speak or engaged in
conversation. Third, a child’s
tongue can be loosed also if he/she is inspired by the Holy Ghost to speak.

A fascinating thing about this verse is that it shows that
when Jesus loosed the children’s tongues, it wasn’t to speak to Him; it was to
speak to their fathers. It is
almost as if He asked them to talk to
their parents.

I wonder how great and marvelous those things were. Sometimes it seems when kids say the
right thing right when you don’t expect them to and it hits you between the
eyes.

I almost get the sense that the Nephies had a tradition of
training their children to be quiet all the time. It wasn’t that long ago—maybe some decades—that our culture
was the same way, if you remember the saying, “Children should be seen and not
heard.” I suppose that saying was
designed to help children be courteous and respectful until they could learn when
it was appropriate to speak up and what things were good to say, but can also
be misused to silence children’s voices and take away any chance of
self-expression. So maybe
Jesus was demonstrating that it was possible to have parent-child conversations
in which mutual learning takes place.

This reminds me of some times that I’ve substitute-taught
primary classes, which have been a mix of learning and fun. Here’s a journal entry about a CTR 7 primary
lesson that I taught back in 2010:

I had Scottie and Celeste in my class. When I got to the classroom, Scottie had hidden behind a
chair so that I kind of had to hunt for him. I didn’t get bothered by that; I just asked him to come out
for the lesson. He asked if we
could play hide-and-go-seek and I said that we would if there was time at the
end of the lesson. Before class
started, I asked them if they needed to go to the bathroom or get a drink. One wanted a drink and the other wanted
to go to the bathroom. Then
Scottie asked if they could play hangman, and I told them we could do that too
if we had time at the end of the lesson.
So then I had their cooperation.

As it turned out, the pictures held their attention very
well. I would hold up a picture
and say, “Tell me about this picture” and they would try to supply all the
detail and I would keep them on the right track if they started to wander. They both seemed pretty interested in
the pictures. I would fill in some
extra things and then I’d go on to the next picture. Celeste asked some good questions. When I showed the picture of Christ ordaining the 12
apostles, she wanted to know what “ordain” meant, so I told her. The really neat thing about the whole
lesson for me was that I felt for them a very special love, which I can only
suppose was a small measure of the love that Christ feels for little
children. It helped me be patient
and to show respect for them and I felt that they really responded to
that. At the end of the lesson
when all the pictures we had talked about were out on the floor, I pointed to
how the things Christ did in His day are also done in our church today and
Celeste suddenly got very excited and insisted on comparing them herself and I
could see that she had gotten it.
[And then we played games of Hangman and hide-and-go-seek until class
was over, since we got finished ahead of time.]

Here’s another journal entry about another primary class I
substitute-taught in 2011:

Today I taught the CTR 7 class. The lesson was on Easter and what Jesus did for us. It was kind of interesting because in
primary sharing time Sister Reeder went through all the pictures and the story
of the crucifixion and resurrection, so I wondered how I was going to make it
new for my class. But we ended up
having a very good discussion, and some of the questions they asked were
amazing. Ryland asked two
questions. She asked, “Is Jesus
everywhere at once?” and “Did Heavenly Father live on this earth?” (I told my husband those questions and
he was like, “Wow! That’s like a high priest group!” He asked me if I went into the Adam-God theory, and I told
him I didn’t. Why would I drop
something like that on CTR 7s?
It’s wrong anyway!)

I told Ryland first of all that Heavenly Father had once
been a man before He was God, but it was a very very long time ago and that he
had lived on a different earth.
“50 thousand years ago?” she asked. “Way more than that,” I said. I also told her that Jesus can’t be everywhere at once
because He has a body, but that the Holy Ghost can be with each one of us. Kyla asked how the Holy Ghost could be
with everyone at once, and us. I
told her I had asked myself that question before and I didn’t know. Then Emmeline spoke up and said it was
like the sun; it was in one place, but everyone could feel it. I told her that was an excellent
way of explaining it. I asked her
if we could still feel the Holy Ghost if it was dark outside, and she said,
“yes.” I told her she was right.

At another point in the lesson I told them that when Jesus
visited the apostles after He was resurrected, they were in a room and all the
doors were shut, but Jesus was able to come in anyway. They asked how He did it, and I told
them I didn’t know, but I knew resurrected bodies could do some really amazing
things.

At another point, I asked them if Jesus still bled after He
was resurrected. They seemed to
think that He didn’t but that His body had sores. I told them that His wounds were completely healed but you
could still see the marks. I asked
them what that told them about what their bodies would be like when they were
resurrected. They answered that
their bodies would be perfect.

I also asked them why it is important to know about the
resurrection. They weren’t quite
sure, so I asked them what they might think about death if they didn’t know
there was a resurrection. They
said they would be scared. I asked
them how they would feel if their mom died if they didn’t know there was a
resurrection. They said they would
be very sad. So it seems they have
figured out that knowing the resurrection takes away fear and a lot of the
sorrow of death.

These are 7 year olds!

What good conversations have you had with children about the
gospel? When have you seen their
tongues loosed so that they speak marvelous words?

Last weekend at the grocery store, the cashier ringing up my
groceries tried over the phone to get one of her coworkers to help her look for
a diamond from her ring that she had lost, since she was on duty and couldn’t
look for it herself. When
she got off the phone, I asked her about it and she told me it was her best
diamond. I looked at the line
behind me and it seemed like she wouldn’t get to search for her diamond for a
while.

As I put my groceries in my car, I couldn’t stop thinking
about her, so I went back and offered to help her search, but she didn’t know
where in the store she had lost it.
“I’ve been all over the place in the store! I don’t know where to look!” she said. The idea flashed into my mind that she
could ask for one of those big long broom pads that are slid around the floor
to be used to sweep the store and then look through the pile picked up by
it. My idea seemed to give
her some hope and she thanked me for it, saying she hadn’t been sure what to do
or where to look.

As I drove away, I thought of Jesus’s parable of the lost
coin:

Either what woman having ten pieces
of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house,
and seek diligently till she find it? (Luke 15:8)

I thought about that parable and it
seemed to me that we don’t often understand the woman’s anxiety to find her
coin. After all, our coins aren’t
worth very much. But what if we
modernized the parable, making it about a woman with 10 diamonds in a ring, who
had lost one? Then we’d understand the sense of purpose she had and the care she
took to search out that lost diamond. A diamond might be a better analogy today for the worth of a soul.

Can you better imagine yourself wanting to look for lost souls if you think of them as lost diamonds instead lost coins? I can.

The war chapters of the Book of Mormon are somewhat
neglected in our Sunday school discussions.The war chapters cover a total of 20 chapters from Alma 43
to 63, yet only two weeks of 45-minute lessons per week are spent discussing
the lessons of those chapters.Thus, a lot of good material gets skipped for lack of time.

Fortunately, a favorite teacher and writer, John Bytheway,
has written a book, Righteous Warriors:Lessons from the War Chapters in the Book of Mormon, which gives these
chapters a closer look.His
approach is to go chapter by chapter through Alma 43-63, giving solid insights
into those intriguing stories to show how relevant they are in our daily life
and how the lessons from the war chapters can help us make better choices in
our daily battles against evil.

It’s just fun to
see how Bytheway livens up the serious topic of war, scriptures, and the
gospel.He writes specifically to
teenagers, but adults will also be pulled in.His goofy trademark sense of humor comes out in titles and
subtitles, such as “Kings Are a Royal Pain” and “Sharp Objects in Tents Can Be
Very Intense” and in little observations that will make you smile, such as the
following:

When the armies of
the Lamanites met the Nephites in the borders of Jershon, the Lamanite armies
were afraid.Why? Because the
Nephites were equipped with armor—breastplates, arm-shields, helmets, and thick
clothing.The Lamanites had plenty
of weapons but no armor—only a “skin which was girded about their loins” (Alma
43:20).

I doubt that any
of us would want to go anywhere in a loincloth, and I imagine that going into
battle would be one of the least desirable places to be caught in such attire.
Can’t you just see the Lamanites preparing for battle?

“Let’s see.I’m going to fight today. What should I
wear? Ah, the loincloth? And some sunscreen. And maybe some extra safety pins.”

Just one Nephite
with a handful of sharp rocks and a good arm could cause considerable physical
discomfort for the Lamanite armies. Predictably, when the armies of the
Lamanites saw the Nephites with their armor, the Lamanites had a sudden change
of plans and departed for the land of Manti instead. (p11-12)

I bought this book more than six years ago, even before I
started this blog (gasp) (so long
ago!!), and I felt like it really jumpstarted my ability to find valuable
lessons in the Book of Mormon war chapters.His lessons really stick in the mind too.
I recall that
I was very much struck by his explanation of how Amalickiah was a type of Satan
when Amalickiah was trying to get Lehonti to come down off his mountain in Alma
47:

Like
Amalickiah, Satan urges us to come down from our mountains, or to leave our
covenants.When we refuse Satan’s
invitations, “being fixed in [our] minds with a determined resolution” (Alma
47:6), he says, “Okay, bring your guards with you, and just come down a little.”See how subtle he is?It’s
interesting that Amalickiah invited Lehonti down three times.Similarly, Satan tried to tempt Jesus
in three different ways when the Savior was “led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness,” set “on a pinnacle of the temple,” and taken to “an exceedingly
high mountain”—but Jesus never came down (Matthew 4:1-11).

Brother
S. Michael Wilcox commented on Amalickiah’s (and Satan’s) tactic of bringing
his prey to lower ground while deceiving him into thinking that he was still in
charge:“’You’re in control!I only want to talk! You have your
guards!You only have to come down
a little bit!’Amalickiah assures
his victim. Lehonti, feeling secure although undoubtedly mistrustful, made his
first mistake: He descended from the heights of the mountain.In his own mind, however, he was still
safe, because he was in control.”

Disclosure of Material Connection: I
have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no
material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have
mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade
Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

2 While the
pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous,

shall seek counsel, and authority, and
blessings

constantly from under thy hand.

(D&C 1221-2)

This was a promise given to Joseph Smith
when he was in Liberty Jail. I think it actually describes a cycle
that still continues today and is part of the various ways that missionary work
happens.

First, rumors about Joseph Smith from
whatever source fly around.Second, those who haven’t heard about him begin to ask questions about
him.They learn about him from
different sources--hopefully more good than bad--and they make a decision about
what they think.And at that point
they are divided into three groups.

Some show themselves to be children of
hell by raging against him.Some
who think it is all foolishness show themselves to be fools by deriding
him.Those who recognize he is a
prophet show themselves to be pure, wise, noble, and virtuous by seeking
counsel, blessings, and authority from him (or in these times, through the
church he helped restore).

At this point, all three parties, by
judging Joseph Smith, have judged themselves…and even separated themselves into
three degrees.And then each of
these groups tell others what they think about Joseph Smith and if they talk to
people who haven’t heard of him before, that next group will begin to inquire
after Joseph Smith too.Thus the
cycle begins all over again.

5 Perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.(1 Tim. 6:3-5)

I found this block of verses and I was excited because it
perfectly skewers a problem I’ve been having lately with my own thoughts.They are thoughts of not fully
consenting to wholesome words of doctrine and asking, “But what about me?” and
“But what if…?” as if the wholesome words won’t be true for me.I’ve realized something was wrong with
it, but I haven’t been able to put my finger on why.But Paul does, brilliantly.

It is pride to think that the rules and promises won’t apply
to me.If the wholesome words do
not answer my questions, then nothing
can answer to my satisfaction and I must just obsess about those questions
endlessly, envying others for the blessings that come to them (because they
keep the commandments) but not to me (because I don’t), surmising evil will
happen to me and everyone else, and falling back on filthy lucre as a
manifestation of God’s favor (because spiritual blessings are withdrawn).

But if ye will turn to the Lord
with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all
diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and
pleasure, deliver you out of bondage. (Mosiah 7:33)

This, I suppose, is the antidote to my problem above, along
with repentance.I need to turn to
God with full purpose of heart and serve Him with all diligence of mind.

This comes in the
middle of Ezekial 34, which is a chapter about shepherding.In the middle, it switches to a talk
with the flock itself.

18 Seemeth it a
small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture,

but ye must tread
down with your feet the residue of your pastures?

and to have drunk of
the deep waters,

but ye must foul the
residue with your feet?

19 And
as for my flock,

they eat that which
ye have trodden with your feet;

and they drink that
which ye have fouled with your feet.

20 ¶Therefore
thus saith the Lord God unto them;

Behold, I,

even I,

will judge between
the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.

(Ezekiel 34:18-20)

It took me several
years to figure out what this was talking about, when it refers to cattle
eating the good pasture and then treading down the rest with their feet.It refers to members who are
participating in nourishing spiritual experiences and then ruining those experiences for others, whether with a lack of
attention, or inappropriate comments, or criticism, or improper
deportment.

Ruining it for others
arises out of a lack of reverence and appreciation for the blessings of those
experiences.The question that
comes at the beginning is very apt—“Seemeth it a small thing unto you?”When we are not reverence or
grateful, then yes, it does seems a small thing to us.Everything is “no big deal” when we
aren’t reverent.

The Lord doesn’t let
these things go.It says in verse
20 that He will judge between fat cattle and lean cattle.It is not clear whether the “fat”
cattle are those that are nourished spiritually or whether they are so
self-satisfied that they aren’t willing to ‘eat’ any more or let anyone else do
so.It is not clear whether the “lean”
cattle are those who have been deprived because of others’ lack of reverence or
whether they are deprived because of their own lack of reverence.Whichever is the case, though, we are
assured that the Lord will hold accountable those who ruin it for others.

This is a good
scripture to use if you’re trying to teach a church class and someone is
consistently driving away the Spirit with smart-aleck comments.If my mom had known about this one when
I was a teen, she probably would have used it on me on a few occasions.

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About Me

Michaela Stephens

Arizona, United States

I'm a happily married 32-year old who switched from Electronic Engineering Technology to Literature, Writing, and Film.
I worked for 3 years at ASU as a writing tutor and have over 400 sessions worth of experience helping people with their writing.
I'm the oldest of seven children (5 boys, 2 girls)
I'm a bit of a neat freak and an undeniable bookworm.

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